Trolley-retriever.



C E. GIERDING.

TROLLEY RETRIEVER.

APPLICATION FILED mnmza. 1914.

Patented Jan. 16, 191?.

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llll m nm'urnon WASMIN C. E. GIERDING.

TROLLEY RETRIEVER.

I APPLICATION FILED mmza. 1914.

Patented Jan.16,1917.

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a/Larzwz. au al? Mum E. GIERDING.

4 1. 9 Ham 2 v E A nu"v M D F. VI ll LN L 0' R A T U P DI A Patented Jan. 16,1917.

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Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

c E GIERDING TROLLEY RETRIEVER APPLiCATION FILED MAR. 23 IQI4.

dogs or pawls.

pniarnn stars ATENT CHARLES E. GIEBDING, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOE TO THE OHIO BRASS GOIVIPANY, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TROLLEY-RETRIEVER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 116, 1917.

Application filed March 23, 1914. Serial No. 826,491.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES a citizen. of the United States, residing at Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented certain Tmprovements in T rolley-Retrievers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in trolley retrievers.

One of the objects provide an improved of my invention is to device of this character which will be simple, durable, reliable, and compact in construction, and extremely effective and efficient in operation.

Other objects of my invention will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of an improved trolley retriever embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical central section on the line 3-3 of 1. Fig. l is a sectional view substantially on the line 4 -i of Fig. 3, some of the parts being broken away to better disclose other parts thereof. Fig. 5 is a similar view indicating the surface mechanism in tl c act of releasing or unlocking the retrieving or retracting mechanism and also showing said mechanism unlocked and about to commence their retrieving or retracting action on the trolley pole. Fig. 6 is a sectional view substantially on the line 6*6 of Fig. 3, indicating the parts in the position they assume after the trolley pole has been retracted or pulled down. Fig. 7 is a sectional view substantially on the line 77 of Fig. 3, showing the mechanism for relocking the retriever mechanism when said retriever mechanism has been restored to its operative position. 8 is a detailed perspective view of a part of the latch or trigger restoring mechanism. Fig. 9 is a detailed view showing the latch or look. Fig. 10 is a detailed per spective view of one of the service tripping Fig. 11 is a detailed sectional view on the line 1111 of Fig. 5. Fig. 12 is a detailed'perspective view of the part to which the inner end of the retracting or retriever spring is connected. Fig. 13 is a detail sectional view of the inner end connection of the service spring.

In the drawings I have shown a structure which illustrates my invention and which has been designed more particularly to be mounted at the end of the car and to be op- E. GIERDING,

eratively connected to the trolley pole near the upper end thereof by means of the usual trolley rope. The structure shown in the drawings has a casing or housing A wherein the various operating parts are contained and by which they are protected from the weather. This casing, as is seen particularly in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 is in general cylindrical in shape and its inner portion, that is, that portion 1 which is nearest the mounting, is of somewhat less diameter than the remaining portion 2 thereof. The portion 2 of the casing has a large cover 3 which, as shown in Fig. 3, has an annular seat 4: formed on its rim. The cover has a number. of lugs or pins 5 which enter undercut lugs 6 when the cover is given a slight rotation after being seated. A suflicient number of these lugs may be distributed around the periphery of the rim of the casing to properly retain the cover in position. This structure has the advantage that only a single screw is necessary to hold the cover against rotation, making it convenient to quickly and easily remove the cover when it is desired to gain access to the interior of the casing. The cover has two large elongated openings, 8 and 9. The upper opening 8 provides play room for the trolley rope R to enter the device, permits access to be gained to the interior, and for renewing or replacing the rope without removing the cover, as will hereinafter appear. The lower opening 9 allows the dust, rain or snow to readily drain from the casing, thus preventing clogging and corrosion of the internal mechanism. It isdesirable that a device of this character be capable of being readily and conveniently mounted upon or demounted from a car for such purposes as replacing a damaged retriever or transferring a trolley retriever from one car to another. For these reasons the mounting or backing plates 15 are all made the same and may be permanently attached to the car, and the trolley retriever structure is constructed to fit any ofthe plates.

I prefer to make the mounting plate in the form substantially like that appearing in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Figs. 2 and 3. It comprises a substantially fiat elongated plate, the central portion 16 of which is substantially circular and open and surrounded by a flange or rim 1.7. This construction forms a shallow dish into which the end of the retriever may be placed and rotated. The upper and lower portions are cut away to a pointflush with the surface of the plate and form openings 18. Undercut or socket lugs 19 are formed on the mounting plate adjacent the openings 18, and these lugs are adapted to be engaged by short lugs 20 on the end of the trolley retriever casing, by rotating the casing slightly after it has been seated in the dishshaped portion 16' of the mounting plate. It will thus be seen that the trolley retriever may be mounted in position by simply setting it into the mounting plate and slightly rotatingit to interlock the lugs 20 with the socket lugs 19. Al-

though as will hereinafter appear, the strains exerted on the trolley rope by the.

retriever mechanism, tend to rotate the retriever into tighter engagement with the mounting plate, I provide a latch or look as a precaution against it being accidentally rotated revcrsely and released. This latch is mounted on the retriever casing and con sists of a pawl 22 actuated by a smallspring.

2i insuch manner that it snaps back of one of the sockets 19 after the casing has been interlocked with the mounting plate, thus locking the device against reversed rotation, as clearlyseen in Fig. 2. It is thus seen that the portions 1 and 20f the casing form two general compartments or chambers, the

larger compartment also including the cover 3. These compartments are separated by means of a fiat, circular partition plate 25 setin an annular seat or shoulder 26 formed by virtue of the different diameters of the casing. This partition plate may be secured in place by means of several screws 27 (Fig; 3), permitting its convenient re moval whenever desired. In the center of the casing is a stud shaft 28, the lower or inne'rend of. which is suitably and firmly anchored in the rear or bottom wall of the casing portion 2 and the free end 30 of said shaft extends. into a central raised or cupshaped portion 31 of the cover, the outer end portion 30 of the shaft being reduced in diameter to form a shoulder 30, as shown in Fig. 3, for purposes hereinafter described. The smaller chamber or compartment is occupied by a powerful retract spring B, wound on edge in a'spiral and confined against expanding by a retaining ring or band 35, thus enabling the spring to be removed or replaced from its compartment Without danger .of its unwinding. This spring surrounds the central stud shaft 28 and its outer end may be firmly anchored by hooking its bent end to a shoulder lug 36 integrally formed on the interior wall of the chamber. The inner end of the spring engages a. removable hub 37 which is mounted on the hub extension 38 of a Wheel or 7 disk E, which disk is mounted to rotate in either direction upon the central shaft 28. The hub 37 has a square hole (Fig. 12) and the hub extension 38 is correspondingly squared so that the hub and disk E rotate together. Any suitable manner of connectingthe inner end of the spring and the hub may beemployed, but I find that a simple and satisfactory method of doing this is to provide the hubwith a substantially radial shoulder 87 against which the bent inner end of the spring be hooked. The manner of fastening the spring ends, just described, allows the parts to be readily disassembled and reassembled as desired. The spring 13' is comparatively large and powerful and, as will hereinafter appear, is in fact sufficiently powerful to overcome the spring mechanism in the trolley base which normally urges the trolley pole upward against the trolley wire.- The large disk or wheel E, which I term for convenience of description the retriever or retracting disk, is-adapted to be rotated in one direction by the spring 13' through the medium of the hub' and hub extension above described, to pull down the trolley pole against the top of the car, and it is adapted to be rotated in the opposite direction for the purpose of 'rewinding the retriever spring B to place said spring in condition to respond to the next'pullingdown operation of the trolley pole. Inthe large compartment of the casing, mostly that portion of said compartment which is contained within the cover 3, is a large rotary or service drumC. This drum, as seen more particularly in Fig.-3,has two large outstanding flanges 50, whichare spaced apart and between which a large groove or peripheral channel is formed to provide for a sufticientnumber of 'turns of the trolley rope R upon thedrum. This drum has a depression or compartment adjacent its outer face or end which is occupied by a spiral service spring D similar to the retriever spring B. This spring is wound to rotate the drum 0 in a direction to wind the trolley rope on the drum. The said spring, however, need be only sufficiently powerful to maintain the trolley rope R- taut so as to render the service mechanism, as will hereinafter appear, instantly responsive to the fluctuations, and particularly the abnormal fluctuations of the trolley pole.

The outer end of the spring D is connected to the drum in any suitable manner, such, forinstanoe, as the lug 41 formed on the wall of the spring compartment.- The inner 28 carries a flanged sleeve 42, which is held ing piece 53 against movement, with its against rotation by the pin as. The. flange of this sleeve has outstanding teeth 43 which cooperate with corresponding teeth on the inner end of a removable ratchet member at which fits over said sleeve 4:2. The inner end of the service spring I) has a bent or hooked end which engages one of several radial shoulders at (Fig. 13) on the ratchet memher it, so that by rotating the ratchet member n in one direction the spring may be wound up to any desired degree of tension, and the ratchet teeth L3 will hold said member H in any position to which it is rotated. This ratchet member n is normally urged into engagement with the ratchet teeth on the flanged sleeve 4:2 by means of a spiral spring l6, which is positioned between the cover depression 31 and a flange at? on said ratchet member. The end of the ratchet member projects through a hole in the cover so as to be accessible from the outside of the casing, this end being squared as at as so that a wrench or other suitable tool may be applied to it to wind the spring. The trolley rope R is fastened in any suitable manner to the service drum C and is given a suflicient number of turns around said drum in accordance with the particular operating conditions and length of cord required. I prefer that the first turn of the rope on the drum beginning with the anchored or fastened end thereof shall lie in a notch or groove 52.0f small sliding locking piece 53, which constitutes a portion of the periphery of the drum upon which the rope is wound. This locking piece, as is seen in Fig. 3, is flush with the periphery of the drum and is adapted to slide in the direction of the aXis of the drum. lts free end is arranged so that it will engage a lug formed integral with the wall of the cover 3, so that the drum may be locked against rotation by its spring when it is desired to renew or replace a trolley rope. The outstanding portions between which the groove or notch 52 is formed project beyond the periphery of the drum and when the rope lies in said groove it holds the lockfree end 5% in position so that it will not strike or engage any of the lugs When it is desired to renew or replace a trolley rope the rope is unwound from the drum until the last turn is reached and the locking piece freed. The locking piece may then be moved ou wardly by l and or by giving the a i e at to cause said locking piece to engage the lug 55 of the casing and hold the drum against rotation while the rope is being renewed or replaced.

The service drum as is clearly seen in Fig. 3, is rotatably mounted upon another huh extensionfi? (see Fig. 3) of the retriever disk or wheel E, so that it may rotate independently of said retriever disk E. In the normal operating condition of the device the service drum, under the influence of the service spring D, tends to wind up the trolley rope upon said drum, but the tension exerted upon the rope is preferably just sufficient to maintain the rope taut at all times during the rise and fall of the trolley pole during operation.

In devices of this character it is not only desirable, under abnormal operating conditions such, for instance, as the trolley jumping the trolley wire, to not only prevent the trolley pole from rising high enough to damage the overhead system, but to actually pull the trolley pole down against the top of the car and hold it in such position until the conductor can restore the trolley pole and the trolley retriever to normal operating condition. In the structure I have shown the retriever disk E as normally locked against rotation in one direction with its spring under tension, this disk being in condition to be unlocked and rotated by its spring to pull down the trolley pole against the top of the car. The service drum normally follows the movement of the trolley pole and in case of an abnormal rise in said trolley pole is arranged to actuate mechanism which will unlock the retriever disk and connect it with the service drum so that the service drum will be rotated in a direction to wind up the rope and pull down the trolley pole. The retriever disk E has a peripheral flange or rim which in turn has an elongated arcuate slot 61 (Figs. 3, 4E, and 7). In this arcuate slot is positioned a double latch, the function of which is to lock the retriever disk to the casing so as to prevent its rotation. In Figs. 3, a, 5, 7, and 9 it will be seen that this latch comprises two levers 63 and 64:, which are pivoted at 63 and 6e re spectively. Their inner or adjacent ends are pivotally connected together so that they will both be moved simultaneously. The lever 64: is forked at this end and has a pin 65 passing through said forked end. The corresponding end of the latch lever positioned in this forked end and has a slot which engages the pin 65 so that the two levers which constitute the latch form in a sense a knuckle-jointed device, and as shown in Fig. 9, a suitable spring 66 is positioned in the path of a projecting end of the pin 65 in such manner that when the latch is actuated it will snap into each of its two positions. In this manner the latch must necessarily move completely to one or the other of its two positions and not occupy a middle position. The two levers which comprise this latch, as is seen, are curved to the general curvature of the retriever disk periphery, so that when said levers are in alinement, so to speak, no portion of them will project beyond the periphery of the retriever disk, thus leaving the disk free to rotate.

hen said latch is in its locking position, that is, when the pivotal pin atthe knuckle is moved radially toward the axis of the disk the free ends 63 and 64 respectively will be projected or thrown beyond the peripheral flange on the retriever disk and in position to engage the fixed lugs 67 and 68 which are formed integrally on the inner wall of the casing 2. For convenience of description I will hereinafter refer to the end 63 of the latch as the lock end, and the end 64 as the stop end. Thus it is seen that when the latchis thrown out and the lock end 63 is in engagement with the ,stop lug' 67 the retriever disk will be positively-locked against rotation in a direction to wind up the trolley rope and pull down the trolley. The operation of the stop end of the latch will be described hereinafter.

In order to throw in the latch and release the retriever disk the service drum carries a number of tripping dogs or pawls 70 (see Figs. 3, 4:, 5, and 10). These dogs, as is seen, are cylindrically formed at one end 71, so as to rotatably fit correspondingly formed sockets or bearings in integralvbosses 72 on the inner end or face of the service drum. This construction forms strong, massive pivots for thetripping pawls so that they .will withstand the blows and strains which come upon'them incident to the release of the retriever disk and the interlocking of the retriever disk and the service drum. This construction also has the advantage that a .broken or damaged pawl may be readily and conveniently replaced. It will be noticed more particularly by reference to Fig. 3 that these tripping pawls operate adjacent the face of the retriever disk E and are positioned within the confines of the peripheral flange 60 of said disk. During the normal operation of the service drum these pawls or dogs are yieldingly held in position by the springs 73, the forward beveled end '74 of one pawl resting, against the adjacent boss 72, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. These pawls are arranged so that they will be sensitive to abnormal fluctuations of the trolley pole such, for instance, as when the trolley pole leaves the trolley wire and flies upwardly.

Because of the undue speed of the service drum incident to the quick upward movement of the trolley pole the dogs will fly outwardly under the action of the excessive centrifugal force. This excessive centrifugal force throws the free ends of the pawls out wardly against the peripheral flange 60 on the retriever'disk.

It will be noticed that the knuckle-joint of the latch, when the latch is in locking position, lies Within the flange or rim 60 and hence within the path of the free ends of the tripping pawls. In consequence, the

tripping pawl which at the instant is the nearest to the knuckle-joint of the latch will strike said knuckle-joint and force it outwardly, thus throwing the lock and stop ends of the latch inwardly to release the, retriever disk. Any number of these tripping pawls may be employed but it is desirable that there shall be enough of them so that the trolley pole will not rise a very great distance before one of said pawls acts to release the retriever disk. In order to insure a positive releasing action on the part of the tripping pawls I provide an outstanding rib 75 on the face of the retriever disk. This rib is positioned adjacent the knuckle-joint of the latch to'provide a comparatively narrow space betweenthe rib and the flange 60. In addition, the free ends of the tripping pawls or dogs are provided with extensions or shoes 76- (Figs. 10 and 11), of sufflcient thickness to pass through the channel or space between the rib 75 and flange 60. In consequence, the free end of the particular tripping pawl in action will positively force the knuckle-joint of the latch outwardly. Fig. 5 shows in dotted lines one of these pawls in the act of entering said channel or space and tripping or throwing outwardly the knucklejoint of the latch. The beveled end 74 of the tripping pawls also insures their properly entering the tripping space, even though said pawls should not be thrown completely outwardly against the flange of the retriever disk. Assuming, now that the latch has been thrown out and the retriever disk thus released is indicated in Fig. 5, it now remains to lock the retriever disk and service drum together so that said retriever disk will actuate said drum .in a direction to wind up the rope and pull down the trolley. This is one of the functions of the tripping pawl. Thus, referring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the free end of the pawl after actuating the knuckle-joint of the latch passes said latch and continues until is reaches a V-shaped notch 77 formed in the peripheral flange 60 of the retriever disk, this flange being considerably thickened at this pointfor this purpose. By thus enteringsaid ll-shaped notch the pawl posi-- tively interlocks the retriever disk and service drum and the service drum will thereby be carried with'the retriever disk and will wind up the trolley rope upon itself. It will be understood that the spring mechanism at the base of the trolley pole is and must be;

' when the trolley leaves the wire the pole,

will under the influence of its powerful spring mechanism, rise very suddenly and very quickly. This sudden, quick movement is, of course, transmitted through the rope to the service drum, and even though the trolley is permitted to rise only a short distance, it and the service drum acquire conthe retriever disk, being relieved of the opposition offered by the spring mechanism at the base of the trolley pole, is free to ro ate unrestrainedly under the action of the spring B. 1t thereby acquires considerable momentum and rotates more turns than is ordinarily necessary to pull down the trolley pole. Thus, by leaving the inner end of the scroll open the retriever disk may run these excess turns without damage to the parts. The retriever spring is so proportioned that it becomes spent about the time the inner end of the scroll passes the projection 83 on lever H and, when the retriever disk runs these excess turns, the hub member 37 simply ratchets or slips relatively to the inner end of the spring B. This arrangement does, as will later appear, not disturb the rewinding or restoring relation of the parts. When the device has pulled the trolley pole down to the top of the car, or at least as far down as the device is adjusted to pull the pole down, the lever H will occupy the position substantially as indicated in full lines in Fig. 6, that is, the pin 83 will be somewhere near the inner end of the scroll, or it may perhaps even be past the open end of the scroll. By pulling upon the rope the conductor rotates the retriever disk E in a di rection opposite to that in which it rotated when it retarded or retracted the trolley pole. This restoring of the direction of rotation causes the pin 83 to follow the scroll, gradually moving outwardly until it occupies a position such as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6. When said lever reaches this position its free end 84 engages shoulder or offset portion 85 on a pivoted plate J, which, for convenience, we term the latch restoring member. This plate is pivoted upon the wall of the casing by any suitable means, such as a screw 87. This plate carries a spring 88, which is anchored in the lugs 89 on said plate and which bears, as shown clearly in Fig. 6, against the wall of the casing, this spring having the tendency to urge the end portion 90 of said plate or member inwardly or away from the wall of the casing.

The plate J carries'an auxiliary plate or member 91 which is pivoted upon said plate J at 92 (see Figs. 6, 7, and 8). The member J carries a small stop lug 93 (see Fig. 8) against which one end of the auxiliary plate 91 is constantly urged by a spring 88, this spring being in effect a continuation of the spring 88 previously mentioned. It is given a couple of turns and its end then positioned in a notch 94:. The auxiliary plate 91, as clearly seen in Fig. 8, carries an upstanding curved strip 95 which serves as a cam and is adapted to cooperate with the pin 96 on the lock end of the latch. The spring 88 yieldingly holds said cam 95 in position so that a pin 96 on the latch may pass on either side of said cam, depending upon the direction of rotation of the retriever disk, and said cam is positioned in the path of said latch pin 96 by the movement of the L-shaped lever H acting upon the member J. It will be re membered that the end 8% of the'L-shaped lever H strikes the shoulder 85 of the member J at about the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6. In this position it will be noted that the pin 83 of lever H is substantially in the next to the last or outer turn of the scroll. In other words, in this position the retriever disk has substantially one more turn to make before the outer end 97 of the scroll which is closed, reaches said pin 83 and acts as a positive stop to prevent the further restoring rotation of the retriever disk. /Vhile, of course, this pin 83 and the closed end 97 of the scroll would act as a positive stop and hence a positive indicator to the conductor that the retriever disk has been given the proper number of restoring turns, I do not rely upon this pin for this purpose, but I provide, instead, the member J and the cam 95 under the control of the lever H. I prefer to arrange the part so that the lever H will position the cam 95 to throw the latch a little less than one turn before the end 97 of the scroll reaches the pin 83 on lever H. In the structure shown I do this by connecting the last two turns of the scroll by a short, more abrupt cam portion 98 (Fig. 6). This short cam causes the pin 88 to shift from the next to the last turn or scroll to the last or outer turn of the scroll in a comparatively small portion of a turn of the retriever'disk. Fig. 6 indicates the cam portion 98 of the scroll about to act upon the pin 83 of lever H, and Fig. 7 shows this cam portion 98 as just having passed the pin 83 in the restoring operation of the retriever disk. During this comparatively small portion of a turn of the retriever disk the end 8st of the lever H shifts the member J and the cam 95 from the position shown in Fig. 6 to that shown in Fig. 7 This positioning of the cam 95 occurs a little before the pin 96 on the lock end of the latch reaches the lug 67 on the inner wall of the case. In consequence of this relation of the parts the end 95 of the cam is positioned in the path of the pin 96 of the latch and said pin 96 will in the continued rotation of the retriever disk ride against the upper side of the end portion 95 of said cam, and the pressure of said cam will throw out the lock end of the latch. The strength, of the spring 88 acting on the cam 95 is suflicient to throw out the lock end of the latch, although after the lock end of the latch has been thrown out it will allow the cam 95 to yield sufficiently to permit the pin '96 to pass beyond the cam. However, I do not depend upon the spring to throw the latch. It will be remembered that the plate IE siderable momentum. The result is that when one ofthe tripping pawls trips or throws out the latch and then enters the V-shapcd or interlocking notch 77, it strikes this notch a very hard blow. This blow, as is understood, occurs but an instant after the latch has been actuated; so soon, practi cally, that the retriever disk has had just about time enough to commence its retrieving action, although there are times when the retriever disk starts rotating and brings its V-shaped notch 77 forward, so to speak, to meet the oncoming pawl. In any event, the service drum has the tendency, when the pawl strikes the V-shaped notch, of rebounding or reacting to such an extent that the pawl and notch will separate slightly. To prevent the pawl from being drawn inwardly by its spring 73 when this separation occurs I provide a rib 78 similar to the rib 75. This rib provides a comparatively long entrance to the V-shaped notch 77 and will permit considerable separation of the pawl and notch without any danger of the pawl being drawn out of interlocking position by its spring 73. This rib 78, of course, operates in conjunction with the extension 76 of the pawl to holdsaid pawl in its out wardly thrown position in thesame manner that the rib operates. It might even happen that the service drum will acquire such a momentum from. the trolley pole that, after actuating the latch, the pawl will actually strike the V-shaped notch 77 such a hard blow as to carry the retriever disk with it slight distance before the retriever disk recovers from said blow. This movement, however, will do no harm because, as will later appear, the parts are constructed to allow for such occurrences.

So far I have described the structure and operations which take place when the trolley retriever responds to an abnormal condition in the trolley pole, and pulls down the trolley pole against the top of the car. In this operated condition of the device the retriever disk and the service drum are interlocked by the pawl as above described, and both the service spring and the retriever spring have run down, to some extent. It now becomes necessary, therefore, to restore the parts of the device to their normal operating condition, that is, the retriever spring must be wound up and the retriever disk locked in its tensioned position. The retriever disk and the service drum must also be unlocked with respect to each other, so as to restore the service drum to a condition where it will again respond to an abnormal fluctuation of the trolley pole. service spring and the retriever spring are wound so that they act cumulatively upon the trolley pole when the retriever disk and the service drum are interlocked, the retriever disk and service drum will remain Although the interlocked after the trolley pole has been pulled down against the top of the car for the reason that the spring mechanism at the base of the trolley pole is acting or pulling upon the trolley rope in a direction opposite to that exerted by the service and retriever springs of the trolley retriever, In consequence, said retriever disk and service drum will remain interlocked until the parts are all restored. To restore the parts, therefore, the conductor need only pull outward upon the trolley rope, that is, unwind it from the service drum. This will wind up the retriever spring and also, of course, the service spring. It is desirable in a device of this character not only to give the parts a definite number of restoring turns, so that the device will be restored to the same condition each time, but also to positively indicate to the conductor that the proper number of restoring turns have been given to the parts. I provide mechanism which automatically governs the restoration of the device to a predetermined operating condition each time and also automatically indicates to the conductor that such condition has been reached. To this end I provide the other face of the retriever disk with a scroll or spiral groove 80, which may be formed in any suitable manner, such, for instance, as by casting a spiral rib integral with the retriever disk E. This scroll has a number of turns corresponding to the number of turns which it is desired to give the retriever disk in order to restore said retriever disk to its operative condition. I also provide an L-shaped lever H. One arm of this lever is pivoted at 81 at its end to the wall of the casing 2, so that the whole lever may be rotated about this pivot in a plane parallel to the partition plate 25 and the retriever disk E. This lever H is constantly urged outwardly by a spring 82 which is anchored at one end to the lever near its pivot and bears at its other end against the wall of the casing. This lever has an outstanding pin 83, which lies within the groove of the scroll and which is adapted to follow the turns of said scroll. It will be noted that the inner end of the scroll is open so that after the extreme inner end 8O passes the pin 83 on lever H, the retriever disk may continue to rotate in the said direction without winding the lever H on its pivot. This direction of rotation just mentioned is that in which the disk is rotating when the trolley pole is being pulled down, and the purpose of providing this open scroll is to allow the disk to continue to rotate without amming the disk and lever H, or without throwing its end 84 far enough to strike the wall of the casing and thereby become damaged. The open inner end of the scroll is also intended to serve another important purpose. It occasionally happens that the trolley rope R breaks and J is positively held by the L-shaped lever and this plate, of course, positions the cam 95 in the path of pin 96 and since the cam 95 is pivoted at 92, it follows that neither the plate J nor the pivot 92 will yield and the pin 96 will be compelled to move yieldingly and throw out the latch. Since the two levers constituting the latch are connected together by the knuckle-joint as above described, the throwing out of the lock end of said latch will simultaneously throw out the stop end 6 9 of said latch.

The end portion 95 of the cam 95 is arranged in such position relatively to the lug 67 of the case that the latch will be thrown out just a little before the lock end 63 of the latch reaches the lug 67, so that the lock end of said latch will snap in behind said lug 67 in position to prevent or lock the retriever disk against rotation in the retrieving direction as above described. The arcuate distance between the lock lug 67 and the stop lug 68 is slightly greater than the arcuate distance between the lock end 63 and the stop end 6% of the latch. The conductor continues pulling out on the rope until the stop end 64 of the latch strikes the stop lug 68 of the casing. This action positively prevents the further restoring movement of the retriever disk and, therefore, positively indicates to the conductor that he has given the device the proper number of restoring turns. As soon as the conductor notices this positive resistance to a further pulling upon the rope he then ceases to pull and eases off upon said trolley. This allows the retriever disk to move in the reverse'direction, that is, in the direction it rotates when retrieving, but since the lock end 63* of the latch is already out it will engage the lock lug 67 and lock the retriever disk against rotation until it is again released the tripping pawls as above described. ln this condition of the parts the pin 83 of the lever H is now in the outer turn of the scroll and the member J and cam which are controlled by the lever ll will remain in the position shown in Fig. 7 until the retriever disk is again unlocked to retrieve the trolley pole. lit will be remembered that the pin 96 on the lock end of the latch actually passed beyond the cam end 95 of the cam 95 during the act of restoring the retriever disk to locked position. This is obvious, because the latch and retriever disk continued their movement until the end 64: of the latch struck the stop lug 68. It is noticed in Fig. 7 that the end portion 95 or the cam lies close to and in fact actually touching the wall of the case 2. The result is that when the conductor eases off on the trolley rope the pin 96 on the lock end of the latch will again engage the end portion 95 of the cam, but this time it engages the under side of said end portion so that it occupies the relative position shown in Fig. l, which is the normally locked up condition of the retriever disk. Now, when the latch is thrown in by the tripping pawls on the service drum, and the retriever disk makes its retrieving rotation, the pin 96 on the latch will move along the under side of the cam 95. The tendency, therefore, of the cam is to maintain the lock end of the latch in its tripped or inner position and thereby prevent any danger of it being accidentally thrown out after the latch has once been actuated by the tripging pawl. The other end of the cam 95, as clearly seen in Fig. 4, stands in the path of the pin 96 when said pin is moving in the retrieving direction, but since the pin 96 is on the under side of the cam it will press forward on the end portion 95 of said cam. The spring 88 of the cam, however, will yield so as to allow the pin 96 to pass the cam and to continue its rotation with the retriever disk in the retrieving direction. Up to the time the conductor, in restoring the retriever disk to its locked position, eased off on the rope in order to permit the lock end 63 of the latch to engage the lock lug 67, the end of he tripping pawl remains in the l -shaped notch 77 of the retriever disk. In other words, this pawl held the retriever disk and the service drum interlocked while the parts were being restored to operative condition. As soon, now, as the conductor eases off on the rope the service drum under the action of its spring tends to wind up the rope, but the retriever disk does not rotate with the drum, because it becomes locked rotation by the lock end 53 of the latch. The service drum, however, will continue its winding up direction of rotation until the *tretch of rope between the drum and the trolley rope becomes taut, and in this movement it carries the tripping pawl 7 0 out of the i -shaped notch 77. This pawl moves out until it passes the end of the guide-rib 78, and it is then drawn inwardly against the boss 7 2 by its spring 7 3, thus finally unlocking the service drum from the r triever disk and leaving the service drun'i tree to again follow the fluctuations in the trolley pole. This is the reason for lea 'ing the space between the ends of the two guideribs and 7 8, this space being sullicient to permit the pawl extension 7 6 to pass therethrough.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art, after having obtained an understanding of my invention from the disclosures herein made, that ny invention may be modified without departing from the scope and spiri' of the invention, and I wish my invention to be understood accordingly.

I claim:

1. A trolley retriever of the class described, having a spiral scroll closed at the outer end and an abrupt cam portion of less arcuate length than one complete turn, connecting its last two outer turns.

2. In a centrifugal trolley retriever, the combination of a retriever disk having a scroll closed at the outer end, spring mechanism tending to rotate said retriever disk in one direction, means for rotating said disk in the other direction and against the tension of said spring, a pivoted lever controlled by said scroll, a latch for locking said disk against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, and means controlled by said lever for setting said latch.

3. In a trolley retriever, the combination with a flanged retriever disk having a slot in the flange, of a fixed casing in which the disk is rotatable, having oppositely disposed stops therein, a pair of latch levers at a CllS- tance apart in said slot with their ad acent ends pivoted together, the outer ends of the levers projecting beyond thediange to engage said stops when the ad acent ends of the levers project inwardly from said flange, thereby preventing rotation of the disk in either direction with respect to the caslng, and means to engage the inwardly projecting ends of the levers for allowing rotation of the disk.

4. In a trolley retriever of the class de scribed, the combination with a rotary spring actuated service drum, of a retriever disk having a scroll, spring mechanism tending to rotate said retriever disk in one direction, means for rotating said disk in the other direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, a lever controlled by said scroll, a latch for locking said disk against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, a pivoted member controlled by said lever for setting said latch, and means dependent upon the speed of rotation of the drum for actuating said latch to release the retriever disk.

5. In a trolley retriever of the class described, the combination of a retriever disk having a scroll, spring mechanism tending to rotate said retriever disk in one direction, means for rotating said disk in the other direction and against the tension of said spring, a lever controlled by said scroll, a latch for locking said disk against rotation in the direction urged by said. spring mechanism, a pivoted member controlled by said lever for setting said latch, a service drum around which the trolley rope is wound, and means responsive to the r0- tat-ive movements of said service drum for actuating said latch to interlock the retriever disk and the service drum.

6. The combination of a rotary retriever member, a scroll carried by said'retriever member, spring mechanism tending to r0- tate said retriever member in one direction,

and a lock Operable when set to hold said retriever member 1 against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, means actuating by centrifugal force to release the lock, a lever adapted to follow said scroll, and a movable member actuated by said lever after said retriever member has been given a predeterminednumber of reverse rotations to set said lock.

7. The combination of a rotary retriever member, a scroll carried by said retriever member, spring mechanism tending to rotate said retriever member in one direction, and a lock operable when set to hold said retriever member against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, means actuated by centrifugal force to release the lock, a lever adapted to follow said scroll,

a pivoted member actuated by'said lever after said retriever member has been given a predetermined number of reverse rotations to set said lock, and means for rotating said retriever member to give it said predetermined number of reverse rotations.

S. The combination of a rotary retriever member, a scroll carried by said retriever member, spring mechanism tending to rotate said retriever member in one-direction, and a lock operable when set to hold said retriever member against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, means actuated by centrifugal force to release the lock, a lever adapted to follow said scroll, means comprising a pivoted member actuated by said lever after said retriever member has been given a predetermined number of reverse rotations to set said lock, means for rotating said retriever member to give it said predetermined number of reverse rotations, and means operable upon the setting of said latch for lock- I ing the retriever member against further reverse rotation.

9. The combination of a retriever disk, spring mechanism for urging said retriever disk in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said disk in the reverse direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, a lock operable when set to restrain the retriever disk against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, means operated by centrifugal force to release the lock, a scroll carried by said retriever disk, a pivoted lever adapted to follow said scroll-in the rotation of said retriever disk, and means comprising a pivoted member controlled by said lever when the retriever disk. has been given a predetermined number of reverse rotations forsetting said. lock.

10. The combination of a retriever disk, spring mechanism for urging said retriever disk in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said disk in the reverse, direction and against the tension of said springmechanism, a lock operable when set to restrain the retriever disk against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, means operated by centrifugal force to release the look, a scroll carried by said retriever disk, a pivoted lever adapted to follow said scroll in the rotation of said retriever disk, a shiftable device actuated by said lever when the retriever disk has been given a predetermined number of reverse rotations, and means carried by said shiftable device for setting said lock.

11. The combination of a retriever disk, spring mechanism for urging said retriever disk in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said disk in the reverse direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, a lock operable when set to restrain the retriever disk against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, means operated by centrifugal force to release the look, a scroll carried by said retriever disk, a pivoted lever adapted to follow said scroll in the rotation of said retriever disk, a shiftable device actuated by said lever when the retriever disk has been given a predetermined number of reverse rotations, and'a cam carried by said shiftable device for setting said lock.

12. The combination of a casing, a retriever disk rotatable therein, spring mechanism constantly urging said retriever disk in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said disk in the reverse direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, a lug on the casing, a latch carried by said retriever disk adapted when set to engage the lug and restrain said disk against rotation inthe direction urged by said spring mechanism, a plate pivoted on said casing, a cam carried by said plate and movable therewith into the path of said latch for setting the latch, a scroll carried by said retriever disk, and a pivoted lever adapted to follow the turns of said scroll and actuate said pivot plate when the retriever disk has been given a predetermined number of reverse rotations.

13. The combination of a casing, a retriever disk rotatable therein, spring mechanism constantly urging said retriever disk in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said disk in the reverse direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, a lug on the casing, a latch carried by said retriever disk adapted when set to engage the lug and restrain said disk against rotation in the direction urged by said spring mechanism, a plate pivoted on said casing, a cam carried by said plate and movable therewith into the path of said latch for setting the latch, a scroll carried by said retriever disk, a pivoted lever adapted to follow the turns of said scroll and actuate said pivot plate when the retriever disk has been given a. predetermined number of reverse rotations, and means operable when said lock is set to positively prevent further reverse rotation of said disk.

14:. The combination of a rotary retriever member, spring mechanism constantly urging said retriever member in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said member in the reverse direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, and means under the control of the retrieving member operable after the retriever member has been given a predetermined number of rotations in the reverse direction for positively locking said retriever member against rotation in either direction.

15. The combination of a rotary retriever member, spring mechanism constantly urging said retriever member in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said member in the reverse direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, a lock operable when set for positively retaining the member in either direction of rotation, and means under the control of said retriever member for setting said look when the retriever member has been given a predetermined number of rotations in said reverse direction.

16. The combination of a rotary retriever member, spring mechanism constantly urging said retriever member in one direction of rotation, means for rotating said member in the reverse direction and against the tension of said spring mechanism, a lock operable when set to restrain the rotation of said retriever member in either direction, a scroll carried by said retriever member, a lever operated by said scroll, and means actuated by the lever When the retriever member has been given a predetermined rotary movement in said reverse direction for setting said lock.

17. The combination of a spring actuated retriever disk constantly tending to rotate in one direction, a lock carried by said retriever disk, means under the control of said retriever disk and operable upon a predetermined rotation of said disk'in the reverse direction for actuating said lock, and stops between which said lock is positioned when actuated for engagement by said lock to restrain the rotation of the disk in either direction.

18. The combination of a spring actuated retriever disk constantly tending to rotate in one direction, a lock carried by said retriever disk, a scroll carried by said retriever disk, a lever operable to follow the turns of said scroll, means adapted to be positioned in the path of said lock for actuating the lock, said lock actuating means being moved into position when the retriever disk has been given a predetermined rotation in the reverse direction, and spaced stop lugs between which said lock is positioned when actuated and adapted to be engaged by said lock to restrain the rotation of the disk in either direction.

19. The combination of a rotary retrieving disk, a fixed casing in which it rotates, a locking device positioned on the casing adjacent to the periphery of said disk, spaced stops in the casing adjacent the periphery of the disk between which the lock is adapted to be positioned during the rotation of said disk, and means operable after the pre determined rotation of said disk for positioning said lock beyond the periphery of said disk, so that it will engage the stops and prevent the rotation of the disk.

20. The combination of a rotary retriever disk, a locking device positioned adjacent to the periphery of said disk, spaced stops between which the lock is adapted to be positioned during the rotation of said disk, a scroll carried by said disk, a lever pivoted at one end, means on said lever following the turns of said'scroll for swinging the lever about its pivot when the disk rotates, a pivoted plate shifted by the free end of said lever when the disk has made a predetermined number of rotations, a cam carried by said plate and adapted to be positioned in the path of the locking device when the plate is shifted, for throwing the look beyond the periphery of the disk, and stops adapted'to beengaged by the thrown lock for locking the disk against rotation in either direction.

21. The combination of a casing, a retriever disk mounted therein, spring mechanism constantly urging said disk in one direction of rotation, means for rotating the disk in the other direction, a scroll carried by said retriever disk open at its inner end and having a relatively short cam portion connecting its two outer turns, a lever pivoted at one end to the casing and having an outstanding pin adapted to engage said scroll and follow the turns thereof, a plate pivoted upon the casing adapted to be shifted on its pivot by the free end of said lever when said cam passes the pin on said lever, a latch carried by said retriever disk adjacent its periphery and substantially flush therewith, a yielding cam carried by said plate and movablethereby into the path of said latch to project the latch beyond the periphery of said retriever disk, and spaced stop lugs on said casing, between which the latch is positioned and which are engaged by said latch to lock the disk against rotation in either direction.

22. The combination ofa casing, a retriever disk mounted therein, spring mechanism constantly urging said disk in one direction of rotation, means for rotating the disk in the other direction, a scroll carried by said retriever disk open at its inner end and having a relatively short cam portion connecting its two outer turns, a lever pivoted at one end to the casing and having an outstanding pin adapted to engage said scroll and follow the turns thereof, a plate pivoted upon the casing adapted to be shifted on its pivot vby the free end of said lever when said cam passes the pin on said lever, a latch carried by said retriever disk adjacent its periphery and substantially flush therewith, a yielding cam carried by said plate and movable thereby into the path of said latch to project the latch beyond the periphery of said retriever disk, spaced stop lugs on said casing, between which the latch is positioned and which are engaged by said latch to lock the disk against rotation in either direction, a service drum around which the trolley rope is wound, and means carried by said drum responsive to the movements thereof for throwing said/latch inflush with the periphery of the disk to release the disk.

' 23. The combination of a rotary service drum around which the trolley rope is adapted to be wound, a spring tending to rotate the drum in a direction to wind up the rope thereupon, a rotary retriever disk, a spring urging said disk in the same direction of rotation as the drum is urged by its spring, a lock carried by said retriever disk normally holding said disk against rotation by its spring, a pivoted pawl adapted to be centrifugally thrown outwardlyby an abnormal rotary movement of the service drum, and when thrown outwardly to strike said lock and release the retriever disk, a guide-rib on said retriever disk adaptedto positively guide the pawl into tripping re- 7 lation with said lock, and'means .on said retriever disk adapted to .beengaged by the pawl after tripping the lock for interlocking said disk and service drum.

2%. The combination of a flanged retriever adjacent ends pivoted together to form a knuckle-joint which projects inwardly from the inner face of the flange, the free ends of said levers projecting outwardly beyond the outer face of said flange, a stop engaged by one of said projecting ends to-restrain the disk against rotation, a guide-rib .on said disk adjacent the inwardly extending knuckle-joint of the latch, a service drum adapted to follow the movements of the trolley pole, and a pawl pivoted upon said drum and centrifugally responsive to the abnormal movements of the drum, the end of said pawl being adapted to pass between said guide-rib and the disk flange to posi tively throw the knuckle-joint of'sa-id latch outwardly and release the retriever disk.

25. The combination of a flanged retriever disk tending to rotate in one direction, and having a slot in its flange, a pair of latch levers pivoted in said slot, and having their adjacent ends pivoted together to form a knuckle-joint which projects inwardly from the inner face of the flange, the free ends of said levers projecting outwardly beyond the outer face of said flange, a stop engaged by one of said projecting ends to restrain the disk against rotation, a guide-rib on said disk adjacent the inwardly extending knuckle-joint of the latch, a service drum adapted to follow the movements of the trolley pole, a pawl pivoted upon said drum and centrifugally responsive to the abnormal movements of the drum, the end of said pawl being adapted to pass between said guide-rib and the disk flange to positively throw the knuckle-joint of said latch outwardly and release the retriever disk, a notch in the flange of said disk adapted to be engaged by the end of said pawl after tripping the latch, and a guide-rib forming an elongated entrance to said notch to prevent said pawl from moving out of operative relation to said notch.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 6 day of March A. D. 1914.

CHARLES E. GIERDING.

Witnesses:

R. G. AvnRILL, JNo. L. YOUNG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

